Leon Saulius
|born=2539 |died= |species= |gender=Male |height=6' 2" |weight=187 pounds |hair= |eyes=hazel |rank=First Lieutenant |branch= |speciality= |notable=One of two survivors of the Purge of 2561 |affiliation= *United Rebel Front ** **The Remnants *Real United Rebel Front |era= *Human-Covenant War *Interspecies Union Conflicts }} First Lieutenant Leon Saulius was a human . Born in 2539 in on the rogue colony of to a farmer mother and a high ranking officer in the Venezian People's Army, Saulius was raised in a very pro rebellion culture, and, as a result, joined the in 2557. Although he was above average as a soldier, his leadership skills left much to be desired, however, due to his father's meddling, Saulius was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the VPAC the next year. Assigned to an A15 Skyhawk unit based on the frontier Saulius aided in operations against loyalists and the criminal group known as The Syndicate Although Saulius was subpar as a leader, against common thugs of the Syndicate, and underequipped UNSC loyalists, it had little effect on combat effectiveness. In 2561, the UNSC attacked Venezia, and, after he and the rest of the pilots, now infantry, were forced to retreat, Saulius and several other pilots retreated to the frontier, where they joined with other URF remnants. Several months later, Simon-G294 killed off two of the three officers leading the remnants, but, with the timely intervention of Ethan Matos, Saulius survived after being heavily wounded. Escaping Venezia with the help of Matos, Saulius made his way to the frontier colonies, where he discovered the assassination of his fellow officers was a part of a mass purge instigated by the Syndicate, who were aiming to destroy any resistance to their control of the URF. On the frontier colonies, Saulius, with the aid of a small clique of rebels, began a ruthless campaign to loosen the Syndicate's hold on the frontier as well as the URF. Biography Early Life Leon Yuri Saulius was born to Samantha and Francis Saulius in on the rogue colony of on July 7th, 2539. Although Leon's mother was a former farmer, born on the frontier, his father was a member of the Militia Council in the and veteran of the coup that brought the colony under the control of the , with a great amount of pull in the military. Raised on an airfield outside of New Tyne, Saulius became a devoted supporter of the through being raised by an officer in the URF, as well as being around other rebel fighters and children throughout his childhood. Although he was an above average student in school, it was not unusual for Leon to cut classes and sit outside the fence of the airfield, watching in wonder as aircraft of the took off and landed. Despite his mother's disapproval of skimping on his education, Saulius' father encouraged his interest in military aviation, taking him to talk with pilots and see the aircraft on Leon's breaks in schooling. By his senior year of highschool, Leon had firmly decided he was going to join the VPAC, and continued to spend all the available time he had socializing with the airfield's personnel, eventually becoming romantically involved with a female militia member, Katie Olin, who had graduated from Leon's highschool the year before him. However, Leon later broke up with Olin after she was transferred to the other side of in June of 2557. Although Leon became depressed at the failure of his first romantic relationship, he later got over it with the help of his peers. A few weeks after his breakup, on his eighteenth birthday, Saulius enlisted in the VPAC. Insurrectionist Enlistment and Training (2557) After his enlistment, Saulius was sent to a secluded area of the airfield to begin his training. Although his skills with marksmanship and friend-or-foe recognition were superb, his leadership capabilities left much to be desired, especially due to Saulius' issues in dealing with the stress of combat in an effective manner. This was displayed in a mock combat situation, when Saulius basically froze when the plan he had originally set out went awry, forcing another trainee to take command of the squad. As a result, his instructors planned for him to be commissioned as an enlistedmen. However, due to the meddling of the senior Colonel Saulius, the instructors decided to commission Saulius as a Second Lieutenant in the VPAC. Assigned to learn to fly the T51 Skyhawk after he graduated his initial training, Saulius and other officers went to a party in to celebrate. After the party, the drunken Leon and seven other officers went to walk back to the airfield. However, the group eventually stumbled into the slums of New Tyne, where they were recognized by a group of UNSC loyalists, who proceeded to attack the officers. Drunk, and unable to fight effectively, Saulius suffered two cracked ribs. After his recuperation in the airfield's hospital, Saulius and the other injured officers began their training. In the simulators for the F/A-440 and in training aircraft, Saulius performed superbly, however, in more mundane matters such as the fighter's operating limits, he struggled, believing such things were not needed to fight and fly. This attitude changed four weeks into his training, when a fellow trainee crashed during a solo flight when an emergency occurred, and he had no idea what to do. In fear of the same happening to him, Saulius made it a point to learn what to do if something went wrong, and how far one could push the aircraft before something went wrong. In December of 2557, Saulius graduated from his training, and was deployed to an isolated airfield on the Venezian frontier. Deployment (2557-2561) Leaving his training facility aboard a VPAC , Saulius arrived at his new duty station, an airfield on the Venezian frontier, built in response to a surge in loyalist activity, and criminal actions of The Syndicate. On the isolated base, with little to nothing to occupy Saulius and his fellow pilots while off duty, Leon had ample time to rest, and eventually took up writing as a hobby. Other officers had competitions with the enlisted, boxing being one that Saulius partook in on various occasions, losing most of his bouts to the physically stronger enlisted, most of whom had been manual laborers on the colony, but still doing it all the same, to stave off insanity and boredom. While on duty, flying missions against hostile targets, although Saulius' instructors had feared his subpar leadership skills could potentially prove disastrous in war, they had little to no effect on combat effectiveness as a lowly lieutenant, as he was not in a command position. Although Saulius had little in the way of rabid hatred for the enemies of the Venezian rebel government, he had no remorse either, feeling he was simply doing his patriotic duty to "keep people free". Most important for Leon during his period on the airfield was his first air-to-air kill, which occurred on August 5th, 2558. Sent to support a unit of Venezian rebel militia who were assaulting a Syndicate base, Saulius expected it to be another "milk run", like most of his missions previously. As he approached the target area, he was surprised to come under fire from an . Once again, Saulius' stress got the better of him, and he wasted crucial seconds in deciding what to do. However, the pilot of the AV-14 was not trained as well as a UNSC pilot would have been, and, as a result, Saulius was able to shoot down the Hornet and continue his mission. Fall of Venezia (2561) =Initial Stages = On March 7th, 2561, Saulius and the rest of the base were awakened to news that the was attacking Venezia. Scrambled to ward off incoming dropships, Saulius' stress became evident as combat began. Freezing up as the squadron attacked a formation of Pelicans, it was only the destruction of a nearby rebel that shocked Saulius out of his stupor. Utilizing the MITV pods and twin cannons on his aircraft, he was able to shoot down several dropships and even two GA-TL1's over the course of the day. However, during the night, the UNSC bombed the airfield, destroying the aircraft, as well as many of the personnel. During the raid, Saulius, unlike many others, did not run for the bomb shelters, instead remaining in his bunk, frozen in terror. =Infantryman and Retreat = Without any aircraft, Saulius and the rest of the surviving personnel were given . Commissioned as an infantryman, and the stress of the war and the thought of the Venezian People's Republic losing getting to him, Saulius was incapacitated for several days, until March 12th, the day before the UNSC attacked the base. When the UNSC attacked, Saulius destroyed two with an launcher. However, by the second day, most of the garrison had been decimated, and Saulius, with command forced upon him, led the remainder of the unit out, into the frontier. During the march, the unit ended up in an isolated village, where several other groups of remnants had gathered after their various defeats. Along with two other officers, Saulius helped form the group known only as "The Remnants", a group that hoped to drive the UNSC off planet once again. The Remnants Initial Operations After forming The Remnants, Saulius and the rest of the officers made a pact that they would make every attempt to stay hidden from the UNSC, believing the URF was gone with the fall of Venezia's government. While in the settlement, Saulius was able to improve his stress coping, although it continued to be an issue with him. Two months after settling in, the three officers were contacted the URF, which they believed to defunct. Unbeknownst to Saulius and the other two officers, The Syndicate had taken over the URF, and were planning to use it as their own private army. Given advisors by the URF, The Remnants began to carry out their orders, which perplexed them. Rather than attacking the occupation, they were deployed almost exclusively against various criminal organizations. As time went on, the three became suspicious of the URF's new leadership's goals. Time and time again, rather than The Remnants being deployed against obvious UNSC targets, they continually were sent to wipe out criminal organizations or, on various occasions, aiding Syndicate agents against rival factions. All three, after another month of operations for the URF, agreed that the organization's leadership was not guiding the URF in the correct direction, and even considered the possibility the criminal group they had fought against in the past, The Syndicate, had taken control. As a result, the three began to form a plan to ally with other rebel officers who had the same point of view, with the ultimate goal being a change in the leadership of the URF. However, although the three officers attempted to keep their intentions secret, the "advisors" sent by the URF figured out their plans, and relayed it up to the powers that controlled the organization. Purge of 2561 Three weeks after Saulius and the other two officers began to form their plans to bring down the Syndicate control over the remnants of the United Rebel Front, and begun to make contact with other URF officers who had the same motives, The Remnants' settlement was infiltrated by Simon-G294, who was under orders to assassinate the three officers, including Saulius. Although he easily eliminated the three's guards, Simon only managed to kill two of the three, even though he believed that Saulius too was dead from the heavy wounds he had sustained at Simon's hand. However, Ethan Matos, who was temporarily staying at the settlement, rushed to the scene, and was successful in saving Saulius from death. With the loss of the majority of the leadership, and the rest of The Remnants fearing more reprisals from The Syndicate, the group disbanded, leaving Matos as Saulius' only remaining ally. Matos, who also feared death, made a plan to make it off planet, which Saulius quickly became a part of. Escape After the two agreed to escape, Saulius was forced to shed his uniform in order to blend in with the flood of refugees in . Scrounging up clothes from dead civilians, Saulius and Matos began to make their way to the spaceport. Seeing the reality of the devastation the war had wrought on the planet, Saulius nearly puked at the sight and smell of dead and decaying bodies that were still being found, even months after the city had been taken. Along with making his way through the city with Ethan, Leon also attempted to hide his identity from the occupation. On one occasion, the pair was forced to flee from the UNSC military police after they ran a military police roadblock. Less than twenty four hours later, Saulius and Matos made it to the spaceport, where the latter bribed a smuggler with what little money he had left to take them to a frontier colony. While on the freighter, with time to reflect, Saulius came to despise the Syndicate more than the UNSC, seeing them as subhuman, and promising himself he would do everything in his power to stop them. "The Real URF" After escaping death on Venezia, Saulius made his way to the frontier alongside Matos. During the two's journey to the frontier, Saulius discovered from various other passengers aboard the smuggler's ship that the attempt on his life was not an isolated incident, and that there had been deaths of many other rebel officers by the Syndicate's hand, some of whom Saulius knew were also working to bring the URF back on its original course. As a result, almost as soon as he arrived on the colony of Gagarin II, Saulius told Matos of his plan to bring down the Syndicate's control over the frontier, by any means necessary. However, Matos, who disagreed with Saulius' preferred methods, had a falling out with him, eventually leaving for other work on the frontier. Roaming Gagarin II's frontier, Saulius eventually gathered a sizable group of recruits, that he proceeded to christen "The Real URF". Fearing that any plan to attack the Syndicate controlled governments head on would go awry, Saulius began to use terror tactics, blowing up infrastructure, even using suicide bombers to kill government officials that he suspected were connected with the criminal group, he became wanted by the for terrorism, and The Syndicate for challenging their rule. After nearly a year of operations, Saulius' efforts to bring down the government on the colony had bore no fruit. Frustrated and angered, he gave orders for his group to begin a "scorched earth" policy, attacking any targets of opportunity. These orders, although they were not followed by a portion of the RURF, were carried out by zealous supporters of Saulius, ending in the deaths of thousands of civilians, as well as heavy damage done to the colony's infrastructure, especially in the capital. Despite having given the orders to sow chaos on Gagarin II, Saulius had left the planet three days prior in order to ensure his escape, and set up on the frontier colony of Cherbourg, trying to reform the RURF. Forced to stay out of large settlements due to his infamous reputation and bounty on his head, Saulius was still able to gain thirty recruits, and, with the aid of operations such as bank robberies, hired mercenaries to augment his forces. Eventually, after the death of half his unit in an assassination attempt on a politician, he and the remaining members of the group escaped the planet with the aid of a smuggler. While on the freighter, Saulius decided it would be beneficial for the group to become a roaming one. When various members announced their intent to return home to their colony, Leon convinced them to say by stating that if they returned home, they would be killed for treason. Despite his urgings, several members did leave the RURF, with the rest continuing around the frontier colonies attempting in vain to bring down the Syndicate controlled governments, or those that were perceived to be so. Personnel Profile Personality During the first twenty two years of his life, Saulius was a fairly friendly and kind person. Although he was from what could be considered the upper crust of Venezian society, Saulius was not above socializing with lower class members of society, even though his father was a high ranking officer, and he was expected to be the same. Although Saulius could be a generous and kind person, his issues with stress management led him to have a short temper, especially during highschool. In conjunction with this, socializing with rebels on base led him to have a variety of vulgar terms that he used in verbal shouting matches with other students. This stress issue was something that would follow Saulius throughout his entire life. As a rebel trainee, his lack of experience with dealing with stress properly led him to freeze up on several occasions, which, during the UNSC's reclamation of the planet in 2561, nearly killed him. As time went on, Saulius learned to deal with the stress of combat, however, it affected him in the 2560's greatly. Fearing that he would freeze up if something went wrong on an operation, this influenced Saulius' decision to almost entirely stay clear of military targets, and assault targets that could not fight back. The issue of stress was compounded by Saulius' near death experience at the hands of Simon-G294, which made him paranoid and terrified that death was following him, and that it could come at any time. Quotes